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Glenwood Boys Basketball is in the midst of the greatest four-year span in program history, totaling 64 wins to a mere 25 losses with four straight district championships on top of one state tournament appearance, and one conference championship. This year’s campaign has been even more impressive, with the 2017-2018 Rams jumping out to a 15-2 record. But even with a strong start, this teams goals are still on the horizon.

“Every year, our goal is to win a conference title,” said head coach Curt Schulte. “We’ve come very close a lot of years. You know, we finished in the top three or four for many years and to finally win that conference title, which we hadn’t done since 1952 (In the 2015-2016 season), it was great. It was something that felt good for our program our kids our school and our community.” This season the Rams have clinched at least a share of the title, and will claim it outright with one more conference win.

Schulte, started coaching in 1996 as an assistant coach at Millard North, and became Glenwood’s head coach in 2006. Since then, Glenwood has had a cultural shift in the basketball program.

“You have to get everybody to have the same common goal and I really feel good that we have strong youth program. We have good coaches at middle school and youth level,” said Schulte. “We have great assistants, and then you have to get kids that buy into the program, and to know that it’s not just three or four months out of the year but a year round process.”

Under his leadership, Glenwood has transformed from a consistent top-half finisher in the Hawkeye Ten to a constant contender. In the past three years, including, this season, the Rams sport a winning percentage over 80 percent. Compared to a combined winning percentage of 53 percent over the previous five seasons. This year, the team has hung around the top of the 3A state rankings week in and week out.

Still, things are business as usual. “We know we have to come out and be ready any given night. We have a target on our back. Teams are gonna go ahead and give us their best shot,” said Schulte. “Our conference is tough. I think we have a lot of great teams that will go deep in the postseason. If your not ready any given night, we can get beat. We gotta prepare ourselves not only physically, but we prepare ourselves mentally for every opponent as well.”

As the number of games left on the schedule shrinks, and post season play nears Wells Fargo Arena looms for the Rams.

“We made it to Des Moines three years ago, and it was a great achievement. You know to get to state its never easy,” said Schulte. “There’s a lot of great teams here we have to go through. We always have a tough district to go through, but if we stay focused and stay healthy, we have a great shot at getting back to Wells Fargo.”